| Abstract |
Filtering electrolytic capacitors are responsible of most breakdown cases in static converters. The best indicator of fault of these capacitors is the equivalent series resistance (ESR) which increases versus temperature and ageing time according to a well known law. Since the output voltage ripple of the converter is almost proportional to ESR, the failure of the capacitors is predicted by monitoring online this voltage during operation of the converter. So as to avoid errors due to sudden load variation, the output voltage ripple is firstly filtered at the switching frequency of the converter, then processed with other converter parameters, thereby, the lifetime of these capacitors is computed. The results of this process are presented. |
